World Cup Thread

[mus-28]

If anyone had suggested we would've put in good performances against France and Denmark after the upright was the only thing stopping Syria from eliminating us, you would've thought they were smoking crack. The past 12 months of Ange's tenure we were abysmal and mediocre Asian teams opened up our defence with ease. The fact we conceded a sketchy penalty and a deflection against France, an Eriksen cracker against Denmark and the offside goal and another deflection against Peru, I'd consider the tournament a success. If we had a striker who was in form and playing at a reasonable level we could've snuck trough to the last 16, but we don't have anyone remotely good enough.

 

The coaching team worked miracles with the cattle at their disposal. Shame the Aussie media don't realize Cahill is a 38y.o who couldn't get a run in the English Championship, instead of a world class striker who strikes fear into opponents. The reality is the French left 20+ strikers at home who would be first choice for the Socceroos. 

 

Only coach who could've got us out of this group is Craig Foster.

[bt50]

5 minutes ago, mus-28 said:

If anyone had suggested we would've put in good performances against France and Denmark after the upright was the only thing stopping Syria from eliminating us, you would've thought they were smoking crack. The past 12 months of Ange's tenure we were abysmal and mediocre Asian teams opened up our defence with ease. The fact we conceded a sketchy penalty and a deflection against France, an Eriksen cracker against Denmark and the offside goal and another deflection against Peru, I'd consider the tournament a success. If we had a striker who was in form and playing at a reasonable level we could've snuck trough to the last 16, but we don't have anyone remotely good enough.

 

The coaching team worked miracles with the cattle at their disposal. Shame the Aussie media don't realize Cahill is a 38y.o who couldn't get a run in the English Championship, instead of a world class striker who strikes fear into opponents. The reality is the French left 20+ strikers at home who would be first choice for the Socceroos. 

 

Only coach who could've got us out of this group is Craig Foster.

100% agree, although i hope that the last sentence is firmly tongue in cheek. 

[belaguttman]

8 minutes ago, mus-28 said:

Shame the Aussie media don't realize Cahill is a 38y.o who couldn't get a run in the English Championship, instead of a world class striker who strikes fear into opponents.

 

Cahill couldn't get. run in the A League.

Speaking of Fozzie's coaching, has anyone seen the youtube video of Fozzie's junior team that he coaches? Pretty amazing football

[NewConvert]

57 minutes ago, belaguttman said:

That won't shut Slater up, it'll be everyone else's fault, just like it was with Bambi

The current Socceroos are the generation that had disrupted development with the hiatus between NSL and HAL coming in their important formative years. Arzani, Genrau etc are products of the new development pathway so will have better technical and tactical skills. What this team was really missing was a quality striker, it mystifies me whey we struggle so much to develop good strikers

Actually developing quality strikers is a very difficult thing and often down more to luck in the talent finding the right coach. This is why the blokes who ear the most money are the strikers and attacking mid-fielders with the cheapest players likely to be the goal keeper.

Overall I thought that having the lone striker was a setup for a draw. we need two up forward.

[haz]

38 minutes ago, mus-28 said:

The coaching team worked miracles with the cattle at their disposal. Shame the Aussie media don't realize Cahill is a 38y.o who couldn't get a run in the English Championship, instead of a world class striker who strikes fear into opponents.

Nothing more true!

[rass]

53 minutes ago, mus-28 said:

... I'd consider the tournament a success. If we had a striker who was in form and playing at a reasonable level we could've snuck trough to the last 16, but we don't have anyone remotely good enough.

Sorry, but I have to disagree with you there. 2 goals from pens is all we have to show for it. We finished with 1 point and bottom of our group. Like Foster said, we shouldn't accept just being there.

I thought we embarrassed ourselves with our forwards and cannot fathom how the commentators were in rapture over Leckie's continuous up and back running. He's a forward and primarily his job is to score or assist. Running back and helping to defend means Fuk all when you can't score the other end.... And I've said enough about Kruse.

I thought Bert was OK until the final game. Needing a win against a team half on the plane, he trotted out those ineffective forwards listed above. Totally unforgivable. Disgusting actually. I hope you enjoy your hit and run pay packet.

I know it may sound harsh, but I'm still so upset by how yesterday panned out and actually agree with Foster. To borrow @playmakers line, the swamp needs to be drained at FFA. Because it's plain to see no-one there could give a flying fuck about junior development and hence our national team itself.

[GreenSeater]

8 minutes ago, rass said:

Sorry, but I have to disagree with you there. 2 goals from pens is all we have to show for it. We finished with 1 point and bottom of our group. Like Foster said, we shouldn't accept just being there.

I thought we embarrassed ourselves with our forwards and cannot fathom how the commentators were in rapture over Leckie's continuous up and back running. He's a forward and primarily his job is to score or assist. Running back and helping to defend means Fuk all when you can't score the other end.... And I've said enough about Kruse.

I thought Bert was OK until the final game. Needing a win against a team half on the plane, he trotted out those ineffective forwards listed above. Totally unforgivable. Disgusting actually. I hope you enjoy your hit and run pay packet.

I know it may sound harsh, but I'm still so upset by how yesterday panned out and actually agree with Foster. To borrow @playmakers line, the swamp needs to be drained at FFA. Because it's plain to see no-one there could give a flying fuck about junior development and hence our national team itself.

Couldn't agree more

[belaguttman]

52 minutes ago, NewConvert said:

Actually developing quality strikers is a very difficult thing and often down more to luck in the talent finding the right coach. This is why the blokes who ear the most money are the strikers and attacking mid-fielders with the cheapest players likely to be the goal keeper.

Overall I thought that having the lone striker was a setup for a draw. we need two up forward.

Yes but why do we find it so hard and produce poor outcomes when other countries find it equally difficult and consistently have better outcomes?

[haz]

6 minutes ago, belaguttman said:

Yes but why do we find it so hard and produce poor outcomes when other countries find it equally difficult and consistently have better outcomes?

We need to have shit living conditions so the players are hungry to get out of their poor living situation and work hard to achieve this

Edited June 27, 2018 by haz

[wombegongal]

59 minutes ago, haz said:

We need to have shit living conditions so the players are hungry to get out of their poor living situation and work hard to achieve this

I think a large amount of our better athletes are funnelled into other sports from a young age. That is further compounded by poor coaching and a win now in junior mentality.

[Young Polak]

1 hour ago, haz said:

We need to have shit living conditions so the players are hungry to get out of their poor living situation and work hard to achieve this

It's time for communism

[belaguttman]

1 hour ago, haz said:

We need to have shit living conditions so the players are hungry to get out of their poor living situation and work hard to achieve this

We'll only have to wait a few years then, both ALP and Coal-ition are keen on Australia remaining competitive in the predatory capitalism race to the bottom

[Dylan]

bit late but faaaaaaaaark Messi's goal

[haz]

7 minutes ago, Dylan said:

bit late but faaaaaaaaark Messi's goal

Old mate's from Peru was much better

[jw1739]

2 hours ago, rass said:

Sorry, but I have to disagree with you there. 2 goals from pens is all we have to show for it. We finished with 1 point and bottom of our group. Like Foster said, we shouldn't accept just being there.

I thought we embarrassed ourselves with our forwards and cannot fathom how the commentators were in rapture over Leckie's continuous up and back running. He's a forward and primarily his job is to score or assist. Running back and helping to defend means Fuk all when you can't score the other end.... And I've said enough about Kruse.

I thought Bert was OK until the final game. Needing a win against a team half on the plane, he trotted out those ineffective forwards listed above. Totally unforgivable. Disgusting actually. I hope you enjoy your hit and run pay packet.

I know it may sound harsh, but I'm still so upset by how yesterday panned out and actually agree with Foster. To borrow @playmakers line, the swamp needs to be drained at FFA. Because it's plain to see no-one there could give a flying fuck about junior development and hence our national team itself.

Agree. FFA makes the same mistake time and time again - it looks at one issue at a time with little or no consideration of all the factors influencing that particular issue. You can't look at the national team in isolation from the rest of the football set-up in the country. The national team is just the top layer of the pyramid.

[kingofhearts]

1 hour ago, wombegongal said:

I think a large amount of our better athletes are funnelled into other sports from a young age.

Very much this.

Can we be ever as good as a France or Belguim when we have so many of our top athletes spread across so many sports?

Rugby (League and Union) and AFL are three sports which take a large chunk of our athletes, even cricket to an extent as well.

We're only a country of 24 million, and theirs only so many athletes to go around.

Edited June 27, 2018 by kingofhearts

[Jovan]

20 minutes ago, kingofhearts said:

Very much this.

Can we be ever as good as a France or Belguim when we have so many of our top athletes spread across so many sports?

Rugby (League and Union) and AFL are three sports which take a large chunk of our athletes, even cricket to an extent as well.

We're only a country of 24 million, and theirs only so many athletes to go around.

You only need 15 good players out of 24 million. 

[jw1739]

11 minutes ago, kingofhearts said:

Very much this.

Can we be ever as good as a France or Belguim when we have so many of our top athletes spread across so many sports?

Rugby (League and Union) and AFL are three sports which take a large chunk of our athletes, even cricket to an extent as well.

We're only a country of 24 million, and theirs only so many athletes to go around.

Yes, but IMO that's a very simplistic way of looking at the issue. Uruguay with a population of just 3.5m and Iceland with a paltry 340,000 aren't doing too bad are they? We have to do a lot better with the numbers we have.

This is a whole-of-football problem, and not just about the national team. As fans we need to make sure we look at the problem holistically and therefore avoid the mistake of FFA.

[belaguttman]

13 minutes ago, Jovan said:

You only need 15 good players out of 24 million. 

Given our junior participation rates dwarf the other codes, the issue is really about early identification and retention of talent through good coaching pathways, viable and affordable competition, and career pathways. FFA should be focusing it's energies on that and leaving the leagues to run themselves

[JMSTEP123]

21 minutes ago, belaguttman said:

Given our junior participation rates dwarf the other codes, the issue is really about early identification and retention of talent through good coaching pathways, viable and affordable competition, and career pathways. FFA should be focusing it's energies on that and leaving the leagues to run themselves

Its a growing trend.

Primary school rates (between both sexes) are significantly higher now over AFL. Soccer has transformed over only a generation from "wog sport" to something all cultures share in common. It is on an upwards trend. AFL is not running downward, but its participation rates are highly over represented by caucasian Australians.

Thus the rise in football cooincides with the growing multicultural (especially 2nd gen) population. Just imagine in another generation!

Surely CFA have invested in Aus for this reason. Get in and get them early and develop legitimate pathways. But it is going to take many years to really be able to measure the impact. I suspect it will be extremely positive.

[NewConvert]

3 hours ago, belaguttman said:

Yes but why do we find it so hard and produce poor outcomes when other countries find it equally difficult and consistently have better outcomes?

Good question. So I went and had a look at the members of UEFA which has 55 countries. If Australia could join UEFA where would it rank within the 56 countries. My guess would be top 20. Where would Portugal be without Ronaldo?

I do agree that some countries fare better than Australia because those countries only one major sport which channels all the athletes and due to the general infrastructure built around the sport (including cultural infrastructure). Ans as you have also mentioned that this generation is the one that has been affected by the demise of the NSL and the installation of the A-League. I would also add that the Africans, Latin American and Eastern Europeans are more likely to be playing in the EPL than when Kewell went to England. The competition for spots is tougher and so teh training that was done by the European clubs is no longer there. This point was made by the Iranian coach Quiroz as well.

Certainly the FFA ought to be doing a better job than what it is doing but unless a lightning bolt strikes Gallop things are not going to progress.

[GreenSeater]

 

 

[haz]

TTDIM: Going into work tomorrow if the Germans knocked out! Australia = Germany

 

The curse continues!

 

Edited June 27, 2018 by haz

[Young Polak]

WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST WITNESS

[haz]

2 minutes ago, Young Polak said:

WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST WITNESS

The curse

 

Also we are the only AFC team who didn't win

Edited June 27, 2018 by haz

[Young Polak]

1 minute ago, haz said:

 

Also we are the only AFC team who didn't win

oh ffs

[Young Polak]

21 minutes ago, haz said:

TTDIM: Going into work tomorrow if the Germans knocked out! Australia = Germany

 

The curse continues!

 

inb4 ethnic cleansing and Aryan purification begins the next morning 

[haz]

1 minute ago, Young Polak said:

inb4 ethnic cleansing and Aryan purification begins the next morning 

Well the last time they were knocked out in the group stage was 1938..... WW3 confirmed. Lucky I am a white blonde

[Jovan]

5 hours ago, haz said:

Well the last time they were knocked out in the group stage was 1938..... WW3 confirmed. Lucky I am a white blonde

I guess that will create the notion that as soon as you become world champions your guaranteed not to get out the group stage the following tournament. Last 4 winners have now failed. 

Love it!

[bt50]

13 hours ago, belaguttman said:

We'll only have to wait a few years then, both ALP and Coal-ition are keen on Australia remaining competitive in the predatory capitalism race to the bottom

[belaguttman]

2 hours ago, Jovan said:

I guess that will create the notion that as soon as you become world champions your guaranteed not to get out the group stage the following tournament. Last 4 winners have now failed. 

Love it!

The Champions don't play qualification matches, I think that is a big part of the problem

[bt50]

14 hours ago, Young Polak said:

It's time for communism

There might be something in this...

FIFA World Cup record[edit]

Main article: Soviet Union at the FIFA World Cup

     Champions       Runners-up       Third Place       Fourth Place  

FIFA World Cup record											Qualification Record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Squads		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930	Did Not Enter
1934
1938
1950
1954
1958	Quarter-final	7th	5	2	1	2	5	6	Squad
1962	Quarter-final	6th	4	2	1	1	9	7	Squad
1966	Fourth Place	4th	6	4	0	2	10	6	Squad
1970	Quarter-final	5th	4	2	1	1	6	2	Squad
1974	Disqualified (forfeited)
1978	Did Not Qualify
1982	Second Group Stage	7th	5	2	2	1	7	4	Squad
1986	Round of 16	10th	4	2	1	1	12	5	Squad
1990	Group Stage	17th	3	1	0	2	4	4	Squad
Total	Fourth Place	7/14	31	15	6	10	53	34	–		52	35	9	8	110	32

FIFA World Cup record[edit]

Main article: Russia at the FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup record											Qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Squads		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930–90	As  Soviet Union
1994	Group stage	18th	3	1	0	2	7	6	Squad		8	5	2	1	15	4
1998	Did not qualify										10	5	3	2	20	7
2002	Group stage	22nd	3	1	0	2	4	4	Squad		10	7	2	1	18	5
2006	Did not qualify										12	6	5	1	23	12
2010											12	8	1	3	21	8
2014	Group stage	24th	3	0	2	1	2	3	Squad		10	7	1	2	20	5
2018	Round of 16		3	2	0	1	8	4	Squad		Qualified as hosts
2022	To be determined										TBD
2026
Total	Fourth Place	11/22	41	18	8	15	71	47	—		62	38	14	10	117	41

 

I suppose conversely there is Naughty Korea who shoot their players families for losing though...

Still the Soviets records speak for themselves, we just have to make a decision between mass murder and lifting that glorious trophy.

Edited June 28, 2018 by bt50

[Mr MO]

17 minutes ago, belaguttman said:

The Champions don't play qualification matches, I think that is a big part of the problem

Champions still have to qualify only the hosts get a wild card to enter tournament.

Germany played 10 qualifying matches and won all 10. 

[jw1739]

I really like this idea of playing matches within a group simultaneously. I'd like to see it adopted for all group matches, not just the last round. 

Actually, I think the same for the A-League - I hate the spread of matches over several days. Trouble is the deals with the TV media.

[Torn Asunder]

17 hours ago, belaguttman said:

Given our junior participation rates dwarf the other codes, the issue is really about early identification and retention of talent through good coaching pathways, viable and affordable competition, and career pathways. FFA should be focusing it's energies on that and leaving the leagues to run themselves

 

The best strikers in the world are self centered individual with natural predatory instincts.  A kid with these natural attributes and skills to match needs to be nurtured from an early age, and allowed to concentrate and focus on nothing else but being a striker and scoring goals.

The selfishness required to be this type of player is frowned upon in Australia culturally, and actively coached out of our kids, with the focus rather being on teamwork, fitness and physicality.

A young striker should be encouraged to learn the skills to do whatever is required to score goals ... these include street smart tactics to disadvantage opponents, as well as gamesmanship.  Think back to Ross the Boss, he was pretty much average at everything else, except scoring cracking goals.  Look at Cavanni, as another example ... he's either fixing his hair, or scoring.  Not a lot else.  Cahill, also ... the ultimate flog, but in his day the best header goal scorer in the world, but offering nothing else.  Compare these guys to say Nabbout, running around like a headless chook who doesnt really look like scoring.   

You look at the countries that create the best strikers, and inherently, they are culturally different to Australia.  And on the flip side, countries that have cultural elements similar to Australia with strong links to things like team spirit and working hard, struggle to produce world class strikers.

It would be interesting to do a study on the likes of Arzani, to see what it was that enabled him to maintain his selfishness as a player, whilst still managing to come through the Australian system without being ruined.  Even Rogic, who has selfish tendencies, came through the Nike Academy after focusing on Futsal, rather than traditional club development.

I think the 1st step is for FFA to back off the from their over controlling 1-size-fits-all AFL / NRL approach, and open up the market so clubs can profiteer through young players, which would then means it becomes financially viable to invest in youth development.

Edited June 28, 2018 by Torn Asunder

[johnno cpfc]

One of the big problems is getting these young strikers the BEST coaching without it costing the family a fortune as it is at the moment. 

[jw1739]

3 minutes ago, johnno cpfc said:

One of the big problems is getting these young strikers the BEST coaching without it costing the family a fortune as it is at the moment. 

I rather think that the cost is because we're trying to coach natural tendencies out of certain young players rather than encourage them to get better at what they're trying? I made that mistake when coaching my son's junior teams for a couple of years.

1 hour ago, Torn Asunder said:

The best strikers in the world are self centered individual with natural predatory instincts.  A kid with these natural attributes and skills to match needs to be nurtured from an early age, and allowed to concentrate and focus on nothing else but being a striker and scoring goals.

The selfishness required to be this type of player is frowned upon in Australia culturally, and actively coached out of our kids, with the focus rather being on teamwork, fitness and physicality.

A young striker should be encouraged to learn the skills to do whatever is required to score goals ... these include street smart tactics to disadvantage opponents, as well as gamesmanship.  Think back to Ross the Boss, he was pretty much average at everything else, except scoring cracking goals.  Look at Cavanni, as another example ... he's either fixing his hair, or scoring.  Not a lot else.  Cahill, also ... the ultimate flog, but in his day the best header goal scorer in the world, but offering nothing else.  Compare these guys to say Nabbout, running around like a headless chook who doesnt really look like scoring.   

You look at the countries that create the best strikers, and inherently, they are culturally different to Australia.  And on the flip side, countries that have cultural elements similar to Australia with strong links to things like team spirit and working hard, struggle to produce world class strikers.

It would be interesting to do a study on the likes of Arzani, to see what it was that enabled him to maintain his selfishness as a player, whilst still managing to come through the Australian system without being ruined.  Even Rogic, who has selfish tendencies, came through the Nike Academy after focusing on Futsal, rather than traditional club development.

I think the 1st step is for FFA to back off the from their over controlling 1-size-fits-all AFL / NRL approach, and open up the market so clubs can profiteer through young players, which would then means it becomes financially viable to invest in youth development.

Ah, the "menace of egalitarianism" in football coaching? I love this quote: "There are, he will soon discover, certain ideas and positions all Australians are supposed to believe in and salute. Near the top of the list is equality, an idea for which we are never given a precise definition, but to which everyone is expected to genuflect."

[Young Polak]

6 hours ago, bt50 said:

There might be something in this...

FIFA World Cup record[edit]

Main article: Soviet Union at the FIFA World Cup

     Champions       Runners-up       Third Place       Fourth Place  

FIFA World Cup record											Qualification Record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Squads		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930	Did Not Enter
1934
1938
1950
1954
1958	Quarter-final	7th	5	2	1	2	5	6	Squad
1962	Quarter-final	6th	4	2	1	1	9	7	Squad
1966	Fourth Place	4th	6	4	0	2	10	6	Squad
1970	Quarter-final	5th	4	2	1	1	6	2	Squad
1974	Disqualified (forfeited)
1978	Did Not Qualify
1982	Second Group Stage	7th	5	2	2	1	7	4	Squad
1986	Round of 16	10th	4	2	1	1	12	5	Squad
1990	Group Stage	17th	3	1	0	2	4	4	Squad
Total	Fourth Place	7/14	31	15	6	10	53	34	–		52	35	9	8	110	32

FIFA World Cup record[edit]

Main article: Russia at the FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup record											Qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Squads		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930–90	As  Soviet Union
1994	Group stage	18th	3	1	0	2	7	6	Squad		8	5	2	1	15	4
1998	Did not qualify										10	5	3	2	20	7
2002	Group stage	22nd	3	1	0	2	4	4	Squad		10	7	2	1	18	5
2006	Did not qualify										12	6	5	1	23	12
2010											12	8	1	3	21	8
2014	Group stage	24th	3	0	2	1	2	3	Squad		10	7	1	2	20	5
2018	Round of 16		3	2	0	1	8	4	Squad		Qualified as hosts
2022	To be determined										TBD
2026
Total	Fourth Place	11/22	41	18	8	15	71	47	—		62	38	14	10	117	41

 

I suppose conversely there is Naughty Korea who shoot their players families for losing though...

Still the Soviets records speak for themselves, we just have to make a decision between mass murder and lifting that glorious trophy.

Poland won gold in 1970 and came third in the world cup in 74 and 82 and I believe were in the quarters in 78 and 86.

No mass murder, just bash cunts and jail those who voice against the rulers and we live in working class condition

Communism is life communism is glorious

 

Edited June 28, 2018 by Young Polak

[Young Polak]

[Embee]